Somewhere at the centre of the Var (an area of southern France known for containing some of the most Provence-y bits of Provence), you’ll find the ancient village of Cotignac. The place is built on a slope that leads eventually to a vertiginous cliff face, which looms over the area like a benevolent deity. There’s a bakery, a lovely restaurant at the top of the hill, old stone fountains wherever you look, an equally old church and a belltower whose hourly chimes gently punctuate the otherwise tranquil atmosphere. It is, in short, a chill vibe.
Hotel Lou Calen sits halfway up the slope, an absolute specimen of a property. Originally a hotel that catered to elite-level pop stars who were passing through to use a local recording facility (we’re talking Bowie, we’re talking Pink Floyd, we’re talking Joe Dassin), the business was taken over in 2015 by an energetic Canadian Francophile who ploughed (presumably) millions of Euros into it, transforming the place into a sprawling, luxury retreat, complete with a bookshop, two restaurants, a pastis bar, tennis courts and two swimming pools.
What’s the vibe at Lou Calen?
Despite the hotel’s formidable rock and roll credentials, this is inarguably somewhere you come to unwind. Lou Calen is a gigantic, laid-back place, suited to days spent wandering across its verdant and gratifyingly wild grounds. The owners have been careful to avoid an overly manicured aesthetic, meaning the gardens – joined together by winding paths and paved steps – have a relatively untamed feel to them, with plants and flowers growing to fill the space in a way that feels more like a hillside nature reserve than a hotel. It all underlines Lou Calen’s identity as a retreat, a place to live at a more leisurely pace.
Staff are relatively well drilled, but don’t expect the kind of oleagenous supine service you’d receive in a luxury resort. The folk at Lou Calen are happy to help, but they’re an easy going and laid back bunch. If things take a bit longer than they might, you have to ask yourself why you’re in such a rush in the first place. Adding to the sense of relaxedness are the kinds of activities on offer at the hotel: yoga; massages and even sound baths.
What are the rooms like at Lou Calen?
There’s a variety of places to stay at Lou Calen. Rooms are scattered across the property’s sprawling outdoors area. Some of them are conventional (albeit large) hotel-style affairs, with big bathrooms and huge beds. Others are more like chalets – small self-catered residences situated within the grounds, designed for families staying a few days to a week or more.
Our quarters were located in the main building, off a hallway leading from a third-floor atrium. Confusingly, because of the topsy-turvy Cotignac topography, the hotel’s third floor actually corresponds to ground level, when approaching it from behind. Which means our (technically) third-floor room featured a charming garden patio area.
The room itself was simple but tasteful and high end where it needed to be. The floors were a mixture of flagstone and also huge wooden slabs, salvaged and refashioned from local train carriages. We slept on a triple-width bed covered in tencel percale sheets, ideal for hot weather. The bathroom featured a sizeable standup bathtub, a big stone sink and a roomy rainfall shower.
What are the best things to eat at Lou Calen?
Lou Calen’s ‘proper’ restaurant, The Garden, is phenomenal. Sitting out in the garden, while the sun sets around you, eating the hyper-seasonal, fresh-as-you-like food is one of the nicest things you can do in Cotignac, if not the Var.
It bears repeating: fancy hotels don’t necessarily have nice restaurants. Sometimes the posher the place, the duller the food. This is absolutely not the case at Lou Calen. Chef Benoit Witz (maybe the most ‘Alcase’-looking man in existence) has put his all into the food turned out by this kitchen. Written down a lot of the menu looked so simplistic it bordered on parody. Some mushrooms here. A bit of fish there. Could that really be all? But in the hands of Witz every humble ingredient becomes a show-stealing superstar. The kitchen recently won a Michelin ‘green star’. I’m a bit dismissive about Michelin hype in general, but if Witz’s cooking is the benchmark for what a ‘green star’ looks and tastes like, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for more. Crisp clear flavours with a lightness of touch redolent of the truly great French chefs.
There’s also a bistro which serves more standard fare throughout the day. I had a steak and chips which was perfectly fine. But the Garden is a different order of magnitude. Breakfast is a your standard hotel buffet, with a chef doing eggs. Lou Calen’s specialist pastis bar, O’Fadoli, is also worth a visit, in particular its outdoor seating area; a charismatic terrace that overlooks Cotignac’s main street. The bar has a wonderful collection of herbaceous beverages, including almost 30 different kinds of absinthe.
What’s the area like around Lou Calen?
Located in the Var department, Cotignac may well be the Platonic form of a Provencal village. Tree-lined streets, dappled sunlight, a local bakery, men with moustaches sipping aperitifs at 10am, the sense that time does not exist in any meaningful sense: Cotignac has it all. The town’s shady central promenade (which features a well-stocked market on weekends) winds its way up towards the dramatic cliff face which used to house the village itself (a few troglodytes do remain, still living in the rock).
If you want to cosplay as a perennially tipsy layabout who spends their days idly sitting around sunlit cafes, Cotignac will allow for it. However, if you’re actually interested in making a bit of an effort and exploring the area properly, Lou Calen can sort you out with a local guide. We lucked out and were paired up with local Texan John, who took us on an epic but compact hike across the surrounding hillsides. On the way he conveyed about 50 podcasts-worth of knowledge about the region, including the Roman occupation, ‘Saracen’ invasions, architectural history, war-time Resistance activity, and everything in between. Definitely worth booking if you’re interested in learning more about the region’s fascinating history.
Why should you book a stay at Lou Calen?
Because it’s a sure-fire, fuss-free way to experience the woozy, blissed-out French countryside getaway of your dreams. Similarly, if you’re ‘just’ interested in a high-end poolside break, with Michelin-quality dining (and maybe a spot of tennis), then Lou Calen can provide that too.
DETAILS
Address: 1 Cr Gambetta, 83570 Cotignac, France
Price per night: Standard rooms starting from €268
Closest transport: Marseille Provence Airport and Nice Côte d'Azur Airport are around a one-hour drive away. Les Arcs-Draguignan Train Station is about 30 minutes.
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